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Marvel Earnings Call Confirms Disappointing Spider-Man Toy Sales


Scott

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Looks like 5" didn't work out so well.

 

http://marvelousnews.com/index.php?catid=23&itemid=11069

 

 

 

 

Any one of us could have told them that. Sadly, now they are going to put out 6" figures after the initial hype is over and be disappointed with those money figures as well ( as opposed to just being disappointed in the figures themselves, which is what we'll be). Which will, in turn, make them rethink the entire Marvel Line and inevitably do something stupid, like cancel Marvel Legends in favor of 4" no articulated standard hero figures of tried and true classics like Captain America, Hulk, Spider-man etc.

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Looks like 5" didn't work out so well.

 

http://marvelousnews.com/index.php?catid=23&itemid=11069

I really don't think the scale changeover was all that big a factor to be honest.

 

I think it has more to do with everyone, from the studio on down, to overestimating the demand for the product, same can be said of Pirates. With a sequel, the expectations are for it to surpass the original, in both film and merchandising. Spider-Man 3, while it by NO MEANS can be qualified a "failure", did not exceed the success of Spider-Man 2.

 

Critically, the film was gotten mixed receptions across the board and after seeing it, there just really wasn't as big a desire for the repeat screenings that generate the huge box office returns.

 

Toy wise, stores (ESPECIALLY Walmart) just plain ordered way too much product. At my store, we got a really nice sales from March 23 to about the time of the movie's release. Then all the focus went to Shrek

 

Then the big Pirates push

 

Then the little Fantastic Four push

 

Then Transformers (which has generally gotten better reviews, stronger merchandise sales, and could come VERY close to Spider-Man 3's box office gross on nearly 2/3's Spider-Man's budget)

 

And let us not forget pushes before that for Ghost Rider and TMNT.

 

There was a LOT of competing product out there, more than I think there has EVER been for a single year of big releases. Transformers managed to stake its claim and hit those right notes to be a success. I think Spider-Man just got caught up with the hype with everything else

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I know there was a lot more competition out there this time, but I don't think the 5" factor can be let off the hook completely. Most of the figures were pieces of crap compared to previous movie toys. And even though kids make up a bigger part of the consumer base for the movie toys than they do for regular ML, it really seems like the vast majority of collectors completely passed on these. And a lot of people who'd bought the SM1 and SM2 toys decided not to buy these because the scale was inconsistent. I'm sure the drop in collector sales at least cost Hasbro a few thousand when all is said and done.

 

I also think putting out the 6 inch wave so far after the fact is going to backfire as well. I suppose if they time it with the DVD release and the holiday shopping season then it will help a bit, but I think it would've been better if that wave had come out in April.

 

The one other thing to consider is that while I know there are people here who disagree, the clear majority opinion is that SM3 was the worst of the movies. That was a factor in my decision to pass on the 6" wave when it finally hits and I doubt I'm the only one.

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I think it all boils down to....... CRAPPY FIGURES!

 

Hasbro restarted the Spidey classics line out with a bunch of repaints and a couple new figures. Out of all those figures, I bought the ML8 Doc Ock repaint, the Hobgoblin Demogoblin repaint, and Iron Spidey. The rest were useless... I think this line is canceled aint it?

 

Then with the movie figures... instead of doing movie figures that fit in with everything else they were doing (ie Toybiz's Spiderman movie figures fitting in with other Marvel lines), they created one of the lamest toylines ever @lol@ Why the 5 inches?? don't know. The figures were small and ugly. They were more like Mattel's Superman and Batman movie figures than they were like Marvel figures.

 

And the new Spiderman toys that they are making are pure crap. They are small, have ancient articulation, and ancient sculpting details. I saw Kraven, Scorpion, and a few others recently, and I felt bad for kids who used to like Spiderman toys.

 

The new 6 inch Spidey 3 wave is much better. (I don't like them, but they are better). But it is too late. These will have a hard time selling. They aren't that good and they don't have the movie to hype them.

 

 

And I don't think these poor sales are based solely on Spiderman 3 stuff. Marvel said they are lowering their expectations from their Hasbro license, not just Spiderman toys.

 

While I don't have official figures, anybody with eyes can see that Hasbro is not selling as much Marvel figures as Toybiz did.

 

Barely any FF figures compared to 5 waves that Toybiz put out (or 4).

Spiderman 3 figures not doing nearly as well as previous movies.

Where are the Marvel Legends? They aren't even being ordered by stores!

Where are Spiderman classics?

 

etc...

 

I don't mean to bash Hasbro... but c'mon, you have to admit things are a bit shaky.

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I agree Clam, it's all those things that have caused the sales slump. You think a Spiderman movie would only boost the Spiderman Classics line, but instead it's cancelled? Pretty sad, that was a great line that produced some really fantastic figures (Hobgoblin, Kraven, Rhino, Mysterio). Without SC, it leaves only a slim chance for guys like the Chameleon, Tarantula and Hammerhead to be made and no chance for Mary Jane. @grumpy@

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Clam you really make some good points. I couldn't agree with you more. Kids aren't stupid either they know crap. Reducing the size of action figures to McDonalds size toys just didn't cut it. They just didn't fit in with the rest of their collections. Also the overall appearences of the toys just are not as good as they used to be. They just aren't.

 

I really hope Hasbro does better. I don't want to bash them, but they started making an inferior product. Hopefully they can turn it around.

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Hasbro restarted the Spidey classics line out with a bunch of repaints and a couple new figures. Out of all those figures, I bought the ML8 Doc Ock repaint, the Hobgoblin Demogoblin repaint, and Iron Spidey. The rest were useless... I think this line is canceled aint it?

 

While I don't have official figures, anybody with eyes can see that Hasbro is not selling as much Marvel figures as Toybiz did.

 

1. Barely any FF figures compared to 5 waves that Toybiz put out (or 4).

2. Spiderman 3 figures not doing nearly as well as previous movies.

3. Where are the Marvel Legends? They aren't even being ordered by stores!

4. Where are Spiderman classics?

If I recall, Spider-Man Origins was never intended to be a long standing line. It was basically like Transformers Classics, a filler to keep brand product on the shelves until the far more expansive movie launch. To say it failed would be akin to saying Transformers Classics failed because only movie toys are on store shelves.

 

But is the issue Hasbro's not selling as much, or are they simply staying too far with demand? Using your logic, one could argue that Star Wars toys in 2005 were a flop because stores were loaded with them near consistantly in summer.

 

1. Does FF really NEED that much product? Stores were BURIED in 2005, some had product well into 2006 even on clearance. Box Office wise, the film has made about as much impact as the first, which is to say, barely a blip on radar when stacked against heavyweights like Spider-Man and Transformers. Hasbro has made what I feel is an adequate tie in toy line: they got a couple versions of each FF member, a couple Dooms, Silver surfer, the Fantasticar, and Bump and Goes, plus a few others. For a tie in movie line (especially one this low on the totem poll), it is more than adequate, especially in light of the fact it was done in about the same time as Toy biz had for X-Men 3 AND Hasbro was also working on Spider-Man, ML, AND TRansformers, among dozens of other brands.

 

2. Are they not doing as well, or is there just more product than with the previous movies? To be brutally honest, Walmart ridiculously overordered the line, and Walmart produced enough to fill those orders. In addition, there was significantly more competing product within the brand than I saw with Spider-Man 2. To be fair, the smaller dress up and role play sets have sold quite well, even though the figures haven't.

 

3. Stores will order when they need to. As of now, a good many stores still have plenty wave 1 on the pegs, and I've gone over the whys and maybes ad nauseum.

 

4. Why no Transformers Classics? Why no Batman comic figures in 2005? Because all efforts are on the movie lines and those are where Hasbro expects to make their money

 

I'm not necessarily saying Clam is entirely wrong (I'll agree off the bat a majority of the SM3 figures are crap, but I've seen toybiz sell crap before), but there is more to the situation than what you can see at the store shelf level.

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Hey...At least we're making progress! Exactly what I wanted to happen happened. I didn't support that stuff what so ever and now they have to backpeddle a lil bit.

 

I didn't go on an anti-Hasbro Tirade for 8 months...I just stopped grabbing stuff! This has to be the best year for us ML addicts.We barely saw any scalpers and we saved a buch of money passing on the lack of options...

 

Now hopefully "The Bro" is paying attention, resetting the way they approached the line at the offset and coming back like Celebration IV on YOU FOOLS!!!

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First of all, I didn't need Marvel to confirm that. My storeroom confirmed it in May.

Two, Transformers did not hurt Spidey sales. They were not selling before any TFmovie toys came out.

Scale had indeed alot to do with poor sales. Loosing the collector market, and even kids and parents who either wants bigger figures or actually care about scale since they already bought a bunch of spidey 6" figuresover the last few year. The only figure I sold well is the black costume spidey. My Origins Venom sold pretty well when SM3 came out.

Finally if any toy line is hurting sales it's Cars. I still sale 200 of these a week.

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And yet, I keep reading on some message boards that people want many of the recent releases of the Cars toyline. Anyways, I do admit, the 5" scale is a factor, but it's also because of the crappy toys they made. Look at Karven and some of the Spider-man action feature figures(Not all, but some) as a perfect example. I don't care what scale those figures are in, they are still crappy. Another thing I should point out. Eventhough some of Toy Biz's 6" Spider-man 2 and Fantastic 4 Movie figures had action features, many were still sculpted pretty good, and still managed to get a good amount of articulation. I recalled in Spider-man 2, there was a web shooter Spider-man figure with interchanage hands(2 for regular, 2 for web shooting), and some web projecties, and yet, dispuite the fact that it had an action feature of pushing the legs or something like that to activate it, that figure was still pretty articulated well from what I recalled seeing(I think it may have even still had ball jointed legs dispuite the feature. Have to look at a picture of it again or see it in stores to verify).

 

Still, I do personally think that some of the 5" figures aren't too bad, but if they wanted smaller figures, I think they should of went with around the 4" scale so that they would be more in scale with Marvel Legends Superhero Showdown, as well as with Hasbro's G.I. Joe, Star Wars(Both at 1 time had comics done by Marvel Comics in the 1980's), a for Hasbro's upcoming 4" Marvel 2 packs(From the SDCC pictures I saw from I think another site, they look like they will be 4" scale). At least then, playsets, vehicles and what not could be produced and more cheaper I think.

 

I'll admit that while I'm not a scale nut/not restricted to 1 scale, and that there are maybe a few 5" scale toys that I wouldn't mind getting, over all, most do suck, and I would of rather go for the upcoming 6" scale, which from the pictures I've seen, actually look way better(Except for the re-release Doc Ock. That figure should of been a 6" scale verison of the 5" scale figure I think). I'm just hoping this makes Hasbro realize not to do anymore 5" scale figures for future Marvel movies and just do them in the 6" scale. And even if the future 6" Marvel movie figures have some sort of action feature, so long as they have a good amount of articulation, I'll be happy.

 

Oh, and for those who don't know, Mattel has stated at SDCC that for The Dark Knight movie(Sequal to Batman Begins), there will be a 5.5" scale mostly for kids, variants of figures/accessories/action features, and for vehilces and playsets(As well as in scale with Batman Begins and Superman Returns), as well as a 6" super articulated line that will be sculpted by the Four Horsemen(In scale with DC Superheroes). There will be approximately 6 figures in the 6" line. And these 6" figures will come out the same time as when the movie is out. At least Mattel has stated this early in the game and conferm it, unlike Hasbro who kept saying stuff like "Maybe" causing some confusion on if they will be released or not. Matter of fact, both Iron Man and The Incrediable Hulk movies will be out before The Dark Knight, and we still don't know what scale those figures are going to be in.

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LOL!

 

Maybe because, like most of the HASBRO / Marvel offerings, they sucked?????????

 

Man, it's hard being soooooo right all the time!!!!!

 

Keep doin' what you're doin' HASBRO!

 

Let's see...I see MARVEL TOYS getting this license back in...oh, 2 years??

 

BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!

 

@firedevil@

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LOL!

 

Maybe because, like most of the HASBRO / Marvel offerings, they sucked?????????

 

Man, it's hard being soooooo right all the time!!!!!

 

Keep doin' what you're doin' HASBRO!

 

Let's see...I see MARVEL TOYS getting this license back in...oh, 2 years??

 

BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!

 

@firedevil@

 

I think hasbro has the license for the next 5 years. So even if some lines did fail, you would be out out of luck

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LOL!

 

Maybe because, like most of the HASBRO / Marvel offerings, they sucked?????????

 

Man, it's hard being soooooo right all the time!!!!!

 

Keep doin' what you're doin' HASBRO!

 

Let's see...I see MARVEL TOYS getting this license back in...oh, 2 years??

 

BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!

 

@firedevil@

 

I think hasbro has the license for the next 5 years. So even if some lines did fail, you would be out out of luck

 

 

A license can be pulled at any time by the licensee...ANYTIME...for no reason. It's standard contracting language.

 

 

 

 

 

@hmmm@

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LOL!

 

Maybe because, like most of the HASBRO / Marvel offerings, they sucked?????????

 

Man, it's hard being soooooo right all the time!!!!!

 

Keep doin' what you're doin' HASBRO!

 

Let's see...I see MARVEL TOYS getting this license back in...oh, 2 years??

 

BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!

 

@firedevil@

 

I think hasbro has the license for the next 5 years. So even if some lines did fail, you would be out out of luck

 

A license can be pulled at any time by the licensee...ANYTIME...for no reason. It's standard contracting language.

 

 

@hmmm@

 

 

 

 

of course you know that the whole license has to do bad. not just one line. so if the legends line went down in sales and the spidey 3 line went down in sales then the license wouldn't be pulled just because 2 lines fail. they have the license locked for the next 5 years. they have a lot of movie lines to make and now the upcoming f4 line and spidey legends line. so it is safe to say the license is going absolutely nowhere but with hasbro.

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I recalled in Spider-man 2, there was a web shooter Spider-man figure with interchanage hands(2 for regular, 2 for web shooting), and some web projecties, and yet, dispuite the fact that it had an action feature of pushing the legs or something like that to activate it, that figure was still pretty articulated well from what I recalled seeing(I think it may have even still had ball jointed legs dispuite the feature. Have to look at a picture of it again or see it in stores to verify).

-ball joint head and left shoulder

-swivel forearms, left bicep and calves

-double jointed knees and left elbow

-up and down neck, toes, left middle fingers and right shoulder

-up and down plus side to side feet

-t-crotch

and it came with a breakable water tower

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l concur with someone's statement about the first movie F4 figures being all over the place, which is probably why Hasbro made less for the silver surfer movie.

 

If the first movie cannot sell a lot of toys, why pump the same or even more out for the sequel? Just seems logical for Hsbro in how they handled the f4 wave.

 

 

I don't collect movie toys since their shelf life is short and they tend to do bad unless it is someting like Star WArs or Cars.

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